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A Los Angeles Police Department officer has been indicted based on accusations that he molested two women while responding to separate domestic violence calls, officials ssaid Wednesday.
Officer Michael Kapalungan, 31, of Pacoima pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two felony counts of sexual battery by fraud, and one misdemeanor count each of battery and sexual battery.
"LAPD has zero tolerance for employees who commit crimes," said department spokesman Officer Jason Lee. "Any crime is serious, particularly for police officers."
Kapalungan, a seven-year veteran of the force who wored at the LAPD's Foothill Division in the San Fernando Valley, came under suspicion shortly after July 27 when he and is partner responded to a domestic violence call, officials said.
While at the residence, he led the intoxicated victim out of his partner's view. fondled her breast and groin, and then exposed himself to her, according to the District Attorney's Office.
The victim was arrested and later told a court official about the assault.
In response, LAPD internal affairs set up several undercover sting operations taegeting Kapalungan. During one of them, Kapalungan had responded to a phony domestic violence complaint in September set up by the investigators.
Kapalungan proceeded to fondle the breast of an undercover officer posing as the domestic violence victim, officials said. While interviewing her, he also pushed her down on a bed, stroked her body and sucked on her lower lip, prosecutors said.
Kapalungan was relieved of his duties on Oct. 1 and booked into jail Wednesday after the indictment from the Los Angeles County grand jury was unsealed. He was later released om $95,000 bail, prosecutors said.

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COMMENTS

If a police officer is willing to risk his job to sexually harass a victim of domestic violence, imagine what he'd be willing to do to a prostitute in his custody? A prostitute who is unlikely to be believed by others is she reports that she was sexually abused?

Massage-parlor investigation generates 105 indictments

DATE:
December 17, 2004

SOURCE:
Louisville, Kentucky Courier Journal

By Jason Riley

An eight-year police investigation into massage-parlor prostitution has resulted in 105indictments against owners, employees and others linked to about 20 Louisville parlors, prosecutors and police said yesterday.
Louisville Metro Police are calling the indictments, which have been sealed by a Jefferson Circuit Court judge until all the defendants are arraigned next month, the largest criminal syndication case in Kentucky.
The indictments include charges of engaging in organized crime, a Class B felony punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison, and second-degree promoting prostitution, a Class D felony that carries a penalty of one to five years of imprisonment, prosecutors with the Jefferson County commonwealth attorney's office said.
Twenty-seven people have been arrested so far as part of one case, which Jefferson County prosecutors called one of the largest in the history of the commonwealth attorney's office. All nine assistant commonwealth's attorneys in the office's narcotics unit are working on the indictments.
Among those arrested yesterday were several parlor owners, women who work and sometimes live in the businesses, and even taxi drivers who worked for the parlors driving the women around, police said.
"We went from the bottom end to the top end," said Sgt. Daniel Glidewell, a supervisor in the Louisville Metro Police vice department. "We targeted the entire organization. That's what took so long."
Police also may question customers whose names were found on credit-card receipts seized from the parlors, although they don't expect to arrest them, Glidewell said.
Authorities hope the investigation will shut down Louisville's illegal massage parlors. Police say many of the parlors are connected to each other and others around the state and nation, making millions of dollars and shuttling female workers around the country.
But attorneys for the massage parlors' owners and employees said the indictments are a waste of police resources and pointed to the $50 cash bond many of those arrested had to post to get out of jail as proof.
"Obviously the seriousness of the situation reflects in the amount of the bonds," said attorney Jim Conkin, who represents several massage facilities and nine people arrested as part of the investigation.
Metro police first indicated publicly that they were investigating Louisville's massage parlors in a special report The Courier-Journal published last July.
The Courier-Journal reported that massage parlors across metro Louisville had been operating for decades as fronts for prostitution, taking in what police said were thousands of dollars a day in an industry that was largely unchecked.

For years, Jefferson County and Louisville police posed as customers  undressing and often having sexual contact with massage workers  to make prostitution arrests. But few of those arrests resulted in prostitution convictions.

More recently, aided by merger, metro officials have begun shutting down massage parlors through the use of nuisance ordinances and similar laws.
But until now, authorities had not filed more serious criminal charges that accuse the parlors of working with each other.
The indictments include massage-parlor activity from 2001 to this year, Glidewell said. Although some of the charges are outside Jefferson County, the indictments don't extend to massage parlors beyond Kentucky, he said.
Elgin Crull, a Louisville attorney who has represented about a dozen of the people arrested yesterday, said he doesn't believe the theory that the parlors are working together.
"A lot of the people in the businesses know one another, but I don't think there's any coordination that I know of," he said.
Prosecutors wouldn't comment on specifics of the investigation, noting that the indictments are sealed.
Yesterday, Louisville Metro Police arrested people in Jefferson County and Radcliff, as well as a few who live in Indiana, but they said many of those indicted might have left the state.
"We'll try to arrest as many as we can," Glidewell said.
Arraignments have been scheduled for Jan. 4 in Jefferson Circuit Court.
In the last two months, police and the FBI, among other agencies, served more than 60 search warrants at massage parlors and the homes and other businesses of owners and employees, carting away thousands of documents, computers, condoms and credit-card machines.
Police also froze or seized more than $500,000 in cash as part of the investigation, Glidewell said.
"This is not done yet," he said. "There's still a lot more work for us to do."
He said some of the women indicted live in the massage parlors, sleeping on mattresses on the floor and keeping their belongings in bags ready to leave at a moment's notice.
More arrests will be made in coming days, and attorneys for the businesses and workers are expected to turn in some of their clients, Glidewell said.
Louisville Metro Police said other agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. marshal's office, Kentucky and Indiana state police, and the U.S. postal inspector's office, helped with the investigation.

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COMMENTS

Where do we start? An eight year investigation? To make 105 arrests? And how much money was spent on this?

Former Prosecutor Pleads Guilty To Prostitution Charge

DATE:
December 18, 2004

SOURCE: Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A former Oklahoma County prosecutor received a one-year deferred sentence and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of trying to hire a prostitute.
Charges were filed at 2:12 p.m. Thursday against Lou Keel, 54, and he pleaded guilty about 15 minutes later, records show.
The 23-year veteran of the Oklahoma County district attorney's office resigned Dec. 10.
Police arrested him Nov. 11 at an Oklahoma City motel after he attempted to offer an undercover police officer $50 in exchange for a sexual act.
Keel helped prosecute Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols on 161 state murder charges. But a jury deadlocked on whether to sentence him to death. A judge gave Nichols a sentence of life in prison.

OUR
COMMENTS

I'll bet this prosecutor was just trying to investigate the prostitution problem in Oklahoma City, not unlike the cops in Louisville, Kentucky..... but they didn't lose their jobs for having sex with the prostitutes- infact, they got paid by the police department to do so...... I guess it is all a matter of timing and location.....

Confession Made Public in Officer Corruption Scandal

DATE:
November 30, 2004

SOURCE:

By

Memphis, TN -- New details are emerging about the confession in the police corruption scandal. One of the officers appears to have rolled over on his fellow officer. In open court prosecutors said Billy Scott has given a detailed and accurate confession. "I'm sorry for the embarrassment it caused," Scott told us as he rushed from the courtroom Tuesday.

Billy Scott is the second officer in the case to make bond. His co-defendant officer John Vaughan bonded out last week. The fourth person charged is the only civilian in the case, April Veach, is also out on bond. Now only Officer David Tate remains behind bars. In court prosecutors said they "view him in a different category."

The prosecution plans to use taped conversations to prove a series of crimes. The crimes include drugs, bringing prostitutes to Tunica casinos, and planning a heist at the East Memphis home of pro-wrestler Jerry Lawler.

Officer Billy Scott's bond comes on several conditions. He cannot carry a gun or ammunition, even though he is an officer on paid leave. The judge also made it very clear he is not to talk to any witnesses. He'll also have to talk with a drug counselor about a steroid abuse problem.

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COMMENTS

Confession Made Public in Officer Corruption ScandalEx-Stripper Reveals Recorded Conversations In Memphis Police Corruption Case

DATE:
December 28, 2004

SOURCE:

By Andy Wise

FEDERAL BUILDING, DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS -- Three compact discs full of phone conversations may reveal details of a burglary plot reportedly planned by three Memphis police officers and a former Memphis stripper, according to the stripper's attorney.

Attorney Clifton Harviel, who represents April Veach, told U.S. District Court Judge Bernice Donald prosecutors have handed over the CD's as part of the discovery process. He says the discs reveal details of a plot allegedly planned by Veach, former Memphis police officer David Tate and police officer Billy Scott to burglarize the East Memphis home of professional wrestler Jerry Lawler.

"My impression is (the discs cover) everything from casual conversations to things about the potential burglary to things about other allegations in the indictments," says Harviel.

Veach, free on a $5,000 bond after being charged last month with conspiracy to commit burglary, would not comment at Tuesday's court hearing.

Harviel also said Stephen Leffler, attorney for Tate, has requested a psychiatric evaluation of his client that may take 90 to 120 days. Leffler's investigator told 3 On Your Side he is in depositions all day long and could not confirm the request.

Below are the details of the indictments against Veach, Tate, Scott and a third officer, John Vaughn:

Terrell L. Harris, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Larry Godwin, Director of Police Services for the City of Memphis, James E. Farnan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Memphis Division, Audis Wells, Resident Agent in Charge of the DEA's Memphis Resident Office, and Sheree W. Preston, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service Ciminal Investigation, announced the unsealing of criminal complaints against Memphis Police Officers David Tate, Billy Scott and John D. Vaughan, and civilian April Veach.

The complaints allege violations of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841 (a)(1) and 846 (drug distribution); Title 18, United States Code, Section 2421 (interstate transportation of "any woman or girl" for purposes of prostitution); Title 18, United States Code, Sections 666 and 1951 (bribery); Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 (conspiracy); Title 18, United States Code, Section 2 (aiding and abetting); and Title 18, United States Code, Section 241 (conspiracy to violate civil rights under color of law).

According to the affidavit supporting the complaints in this matter:

* Officer David Tate is approximately 37-years-old and has been employed by the Memphis Police Department since July of 1986. Tate is charged with all the violations alleged in the complaints.
* Billy Scott is approximately 28-years-old and has been employed by the Memphis Police Department since August, 1998. Scott is charged with the drug, prostitution and civil rights violations alleged in the complaints.
* John D. Vaughan is approximately 28-years-old and has been employed by the Memphis Police Department since August, 1999. Vaughan is charged with the drug violations alleged in the complaints.
* April Veach is approximately 21-years-old. She is charged with conspiring with Tate and Scott to commit a civil rights violation.

According to the affidavit, the course of criminal conduct charged in the complaints started in Spring of 2004 when Tate sought to establish a relationship with several Memphis area nightclubs whereby he would provide warnings of vice raids in exchange for bribes. As part of this scheme, Tate established contact with an individual, who unknown to Tate assisted in the investigation.

During a meeting on March 31, 2004, Tate and the cooperating individual agreed on approximately $500.00 a month initially for Tate's services, including notification of vice raids. At the same meeting, Tate acception a $200.00 payment to run a computer check on the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). NCIC is a non-public law enforcement database. According to the affidavit, Tate ultimately received several other payments and engaged in other criminal schemes.

According to the affidavit, Tate recruited another police officer, Billy Scott, to assist the cooperating individual in transporting women across state lines for purposes of prostitution. The women were undercover agents posing as prostitutes. As part of the sting, Tate and Scott were told that the women were carrying distributable quantities of controlled substances. Before Tate and Scott escorted the women during the first trip on October 1, 2004, the cooperating individual told them that the women were carrying ecstacy, and that the women were meeting high dollar gamblers in Tunica. Before the next trip on November 5, 2004, the cooperating individual told Tate and Scott that there was going to be fifty ecstacy pills and one hundred grams of methamphetamine in the limousine with them when they traveled to the casino in Mississippi.

According to the affidavit, Scott recruited still another officer, John Vaughan, for another trip. On November 13, 2004, Vaughan met with an undercover FBI agent. The agent explained the next drug transaction planned for November 19, 2004, and paid Vaughan $500 as a retainer for his participation in the November 19th operation. On November 15, 2004, Tate and Scott assisted the undercover agent in transporting two kilograms of methamphetamine to Mississippi. Then on November 19, 2004, Tate, Scott and Vaughan provided security for a supposed sale of ten kilograms of methamphetamine to a "buyer" coming from Missouri. The "buyer" was actually another FBI undercover agent.

In addition, the complaints allege that Tate, Scott and civilian April Veach conspired to commit a burglary at a house in East Memphis, using the officers' positions with the police department and departmental equipment to accomplish the crime, which would violate the home-owner's right to be secure in his person, house, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. During a meeting with the cooperating individual on November 6, 2004, Tate told the cooperating individual about an individual who had $200,000 in cash hidden inside two jukeboxes at his residence. According to Tate, the owner of the residence was out of town every Monday. Tate remarked that he thought this was an easy mark and that he planned to take it off in the near future. He indicated that he could have another marked police unit up the road from the residence as a lookout and would also hear any 911 calls over his scanner.

According to the affidavit, during this period, the investigators were monitoring Tate's cellular telephone, pursuant to a court order. During a series of telephone calls between Tate and Scott on November 8, 2004, the two officers discussed their surveillance of the target residence. During one of these conversations, Tate told Scott that he had the "layout of the inside of the house." On the same day, Tate also had a telephone conversation with April Veach in which they discussed plans for the burglary, Tate indicated that he would shoot the occupant if they found the occupant in the house with a pistol, and Tate offered April Veach a larger share of the expected $200,000 because the burglary was her idea.

According to the affidavit, Tate and Scott discussed the burglary plan with the undercover FBI agent on November 15, 2004. Tate indicated he wanted the FBI undercover agent to assist them in the burglary. After describing the physical particulars of the residence to be burglarized and the method to be used to gain entry to the residence, Tate indicated that he had a Pizza Hut delivery uniform that he could wear and go to the front door and check and see if any one was home without raising any suspicions.

The defendants were arrested on November 21, 2004.

For the record, we would like to acknowledge that one of those charged, Officer David Tate is the son of WREG Anchorman Jerry Tate. We want to assure you that we will continue following this story and report any developments, treating it the same as we would any other story.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Police have paid confidential informants thousands of dollars to engage in sexual encounters with prostitutes as part of a crackdown on the sex business in Nashville, drawing criticism from the top prosecutor.

Police spent almost $120,000 over three years to foster the encounters, which involve sexual touching and sometimes more. The evidence has helped the city close more than 35 businesses believed to be selling sex and disconnect phone lines to about 100 escort services.

While acknowledging the importance of busting prostitutes, the top prosecutor says the informants are going too far.

"Certainly, having video and audiotapes of the transactions is valuable," District Attorney General Torry Johnson said. "But going beyond that once the transaction has been completed is unnecessary from our point of view and is a little contradictory in letting the confidential informant engage in the very act you're trying to stamp out."

Police are standing by their investigation methods, saying informants often have to get nude to make arrests.

"What's the greater good?" asked Capt. Todd Henry, who heads the department's specialized investigations division. "It may be distasteful to some people, but it's better that we have those places shut down."

Police pay informants about $300 for up to three prostitution "buys," and an extra $100 for each additional transaction, department officials said.

A certain amount of sexual touching is usually necessary to show that the money being paid by the informant is clearly in exchange for a sexual act and repeat encounters are required to show a pattern of prostitution, Henry said.

A prosecutor says police are now allowed to undress in an effort to persuade suspected prostitutes to negotiate sex acts.

During a four-month sting operation that ended with 56 arrests in November, some undercover vice officers dropped their covers altogether.

"Someone had to do something to shut these places down," said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Ted Wilson. "It was just so widespread. It had almost gotten in your face."

Wilson said Police Chief Harold Hurtt has changed a long-standing, unwritten department policy to allow undercover vice officers to disrobe in such cases.

But Hurtt and other Houston police officials declined to discuss the new policy.

"I'm not going to comment about the strategies and tactics that we use," said Hurtt last week.

The Houston Police Department (search) has stepped up efforts to crack down on the local "spa scene." Besides the new policy, authorities are using organized-crime charges to prosecute owners and operators of prostitution businesses.